Adventures of an Aviatrix, in which a pilot travels the skies and the treacherous career path of Canadian commercial aviation, gaining knowledge and experience without losing her step, her licence, or her sense of humour.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

Plane Crazy

Here's another theatrical presentation with an aviation theme, this one much less morbid than the last one I mentioned. Plane Crazy (link plays music) is a musical about the Coffee, Tea or Me? age of aviation, "When Stews Were Sexy and the World Was Sexist."
In the mid-twentieth century, there was a space of almost twenty years between the introduction of the birth control pill and the discovery of AIDS, that happened to coincide with a period of rapid expansion of passenger air transportation. As the promotional text for the musical explains it,

Plane Crazy is set during an explosive time in history: The intersection between the dawn of the Jet Age, the introduction of the Pill, the genesis of the modern Feminist Movement, and the Golden Age of Advertising.

Stewardesses represented the first-wave shock troops in a changing world. This was an exclusive sorority of women who had freedom. Freedom to travel wherever they wanted. Freedom to have sex with whomever they wanted. And freedom to have a career without needing the support of a man.

Sounds like some interesting social commentary attractively wrapped in songs and sexuality. It sounds like fun. I hope it's successful.

I wrote this entry some time ago while the website was part of a fund-raising effort to get the show produced. Today I'm a little busy to do part two on IFR alternates, but I've just discovered that the musical is opening in New York next month, so the time is right. And writer Suzy Conn is in Toronto; she's a Canadian like me.